A Hero's Fate
by MissingMommy
Summary: Nico learns the power he does not hold as the son of Hades. :: NicoWill, for Amber.


This completely and utterly ignores Trials of Apollo.

For Amber. I'm so, so sorry.

* * *

The streets of New Rome bustle with adults and children in equal measures. The sound of children's laughter makes Nico smile into his cup of hot chocolate. It's a little too warm in mid-summer for the drink, but he's had enough coffee for a lifetime.

Across the table, Hazel is sipping her own drink. A small diamond glistens from where the sun hits the ring just right. She's no longer the girl he brought back from the Fields of Asphodel; her quests and their journey two years before had changed her in the best ways. She holds herself with pride and power.

Gods, he could barely believe it's been two years since the Prophecy of the Seven and Gaea's defeat. He can sense Jason's power from the rows of temples on Temple Hill, working to keep his promise to both himself and Kymopoleia. Frank and Reyna are around, doing whatever Praetors do. He can sense Percy's power coming from New Rome's college, no doubt with Annabeth close by.

He keeps his eyes on the streets, planning things to add to Camp Half Blood, while still listening as Hazel talks about Frank's proposal and tentative ideas for their wedding. She looks truly happy. "Frank wants to wed in the Coliseum."

Nico snorts. "He's the son of Mars, of course he would want that."

Her cheeks turn pink, as she tucks a stray hair behind her ear. "I mean, it's not every day that the Praetor gets wed. Besides, I thought it was sweet. Our quests brought us together and the Coliseum represents everything that we fought for. Wouldn't it be nice for it connect us in holy matrimony?"

"You don't need my approval for any of this, you know? I'm happy as long as you—"

he stops. He feels a heavy weight in his stomach and his ears ring. He's felt this too many times in his short life.

The drink slips out of his hand as he meets Hazel's eyes. Her eyes are wide and terrified when she meets his eyes. He knows she felt it as well.

He can still pinpoint his friends within Camp Jupiter's borders and he knows the only person who is not within the safety of Camp Half Blood — Will.

His mouth tries to form words, tries to explain, but Hazel puts a hand over his shaking hands comfortingly. There used to be a time when he would flinch at the feeling of flesh against his own. Instead, he feels only fear.

"I felt it too. You don't need to waste time explaining to me. But just know that you always have me, brother. Find a shadow and _go_."

Her words wash over him like Piper's charmspeak and he is spurred into action. He scans the street for a suitable shadow. As soon as he finds one, he lets the shadows pull him into the darkness, the image of his boyfriend clear in his mind.

He rematerializes in the middle of a busy Austin street. The Mist works overtime to readjust the mortals memories so his presence isn't questioned.

He hears crying before he spots anything out of the ordinary. He approaches slowly, trance-like, until his feet stops in front of the scene. There's no mistaking that's it's Will before him, a ceremonial knife lodged in the left side of his chest. His blue eyes are open and lifeless, staring at nothing in particular.

A woman who shares his smile and nose is on her knees, sobbing next to where Will collapsed. Blood coats the ground. Distantly, he hears the sounds of sirens.

The sun is slowly sinking as people continue to bustle around the three of them. Blood roars in his ears. Anger rushes through him, hot and malleable, as he feels the world be pulled out beneath his feet once again.

"HOW DARE YOU CONTINUE ON LIKE YOUR SON ISN'T DYING," he roars, opening his arms, ready to tear down every single thing. He spins in a circle, desperate to get Apollo's attention.

"Nico!"

He focuses long enough to see Will's mom looking at him with her tear stained face. She shakes her head at him, her dark curls bouncing with her movement. "He — He's gone. I—"

"APOLLO," he shouts. "COME HEAL HIM. APOLLO, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME."

Naomi Solace tries to get his attention again, but he brushes her off. The sirens get closer, and the temperature drops by several degrees.

Nico continues to scream himself hoarse. He doesn't know how long he throws jabs and threats to the sun god. Finally, it feels like the sun has stopped moving and there's warmth that encapsulates him, warming him in the way Will normally does.

He spins to look at the god. Apollo stands in the middle of the street that was once bustling. It now resembles a post-apocalyptic street. The color of the street has drained, the vegetation has wilted and died, the cracks in the sidewalk have grown, and most of the people have disappeared, leaving running cars and possessions behind to get away from whatever was causing the damage. He would feel ashamed about the damage to the street if he wasn't so angry.

Apollo looks just like the first time they met, back when Nico was ten years old and just finding out about his heritage for the first time. This just feeds Nico's anger. Apollo takes his sunglasses off and Nico meets the same blue eyes that Will has.

"Heal him," he growls. "Heal him _now_."

"I cannot heal someone who is already dead," Apollo says. He looks remorseful, like Will does when he can't save a patient. It's the first time that he's seen Apollo look so serious.

"He's not —"

"You are my uncle's child. I know that you felt him pass. There is nothing that I can do. The only thing you can do is give him a proper burial and find who did this."

"I won't allow this to happen," he promises. He knows that there is only one person who can return the dead. "Even if it means tearing down Olympus itself. Mark my words."

Apollo opens his mouth to say something. Nico can hear the broken voice of Naomi Solace behind him but he can't understand the words she speaks. Skeletons are digging their way to the surface, in between the cracks of the concrete. He doesn't care about any of it.

He feels for the shadows that the buildings make and he lets the shadows take him to his father.

* * *

"Return him," Nico demands, in lieu of a greeting. "Return him to me _now_."

His father is sitting on his throne. Persephone sits proudly beside him, both of them in their traditional Greek outfits, ten feet of pure glory. Before them, a bunch of the workers are reporting their duty to his father. Persephone glares at Nico for daring to interrupt their meeting.

He doesn't worry about his stepmother's hatred of him and his siblings. He has more important things to think about. "Return Will to me."

"Persephone, dear, can you give us a minute?"

Persephone looks unhappy at the thought.

Nico shields his eyes as the gods transform in front of him. When he looks back, he sees his father standing alone in front of him — human sized, not ten feet tall. He's wearing an expensive black suit tailor made to fit. "Walk with me, my son."

"No," he snarls. "I want Will back now."

Hades studies him for a long moment. He sighs. "We both know that I cannot do that."

"You ignored Hazel's return," he growls. "You ignored the hundreds of dead that escaped when Doors of Death were chained. Why is this different?"

"Thanatos has been tracking down the ones that have escaped. Some have a little more experience in the modern world than others that have escaped. Soon, we will recapture them," Hades says.

"What about Hazel?" he demands. He can't tell if he is causing the cool temperature in the room or if his father is.

"Hazel's fate was foretold long before she was born. Her part in the Prophecy of the Seven was critical."

He searches his father's face for any trace of a joke. He finds nothing in Hades' black eyes. "I thought you wanted me to be happy."

Hades sighs again. He twists his opal ring, a tick that Nico inherited. "Son, if I could return your beloved Will to you, I would. However, this was far beyond me. I would never put his name on Thanatos' list."

"Who put his name on Thanatos' list?"

Hades doesn't answer him. "There are some names that I don't get to choose, despite trying to. It is the way this works."

Nico narrows his eyes. He knows exactly who he needs to visit next. "You better hope that they give him back to me."

His father says nothing as Nico becomes one with the shadows again.

* * *

The Fates don't look as fearsome as Jason described to him, when they were exchanging their stories after their split in Greece. The three women are gathered around a basket of yarn of different colors — red for mortals, blue for demigods, and gold for gods he knows without having to be told. They cackle as he reemerges from the shadows.

"Finally, the son of Hades has come," one says, the one in the middle, holding the blue yarn between her bony fingers. Her voice is barely more than a whisper, but Nico hears it clearly.

"Come regarding his love, he has," the one on the right says. That one is knitting a blue sock, her hands working faster than he thought possible for beings that appear so ancient.

"Give him back to me," he demands. "Put his string back together _now_."

The one on the left finishes the blue sock she is working on and starts on a new one, using the same blue yarn as before. "That we cannot do. His death was determined long before this."

"Explain."

The Fates' rocking chairs stop moving as their projects are left in their laps. They regard him with dark eyes, each speaking in turn. "Despite what Apollo would like anyone to think, there are some events that have been fated to happen."

"Zeus would like to believe that Apollo's acceptance of the new Oracle led to the Prophecy of the Seven coming true before its time."

"The Prophecy was always destined to come to pass exactly when it did."

Nico's anger floods his body with renewed vigor. He hates to think that his life was determined long before he was even born, that he was always meant to suffer horrible, unspeakable tragedies. He shakes that thought. "What does this have to do with Will?"

The rocking of the chairs return as the start to knit again. "Thousands of years ago, Artemis and Apollo slaughtered the children of a woman who slighted their mother, Leto. Niobe swore her vengeance with her dying breath."

"Vengeance that she was destined to have."

"Vengeance that she shall have since her escape."

The urge to throw up overwhelms him. He barely swallows it down. "Will was killed as some revenge for a millennium old feud?"

The one in the middle cuts the blue string with a quick snip of her golden scissors. "Aye. Seven of Apollo's strongest sons and seven of Artemis' best Hunters to quell the hatred in Niobe's veins."

He pulls his sword from his belt and levels it at them. "Choose another child of Apollo."

The Fates continue to knit the socks, without giving him a second thought. "Brave action, demigod. But you cannot kill a god."

"I can try," he snarls. He swings his sword at the Fates.

The Fates rocking chairs disappear and they are just holding their knitting needles that grow longer and longer, until they are the size of swords. They disappear and reappear behind him. He swings as he spins around, tears stinging his eyes. Despite the weapons in their hands, they do not attack him.

"Haven't I suffered enough?" his movements get slower and sloppier as he cries. "Why would you give me happiness to take it away nearly two years later?"

Smiles grace the Fates faces. It is one of the most terrifying sights that Nico has seen, excluding the horrors of Tartarus.

"Demigods' lives are always cursed with heroes' fates. Yours more than most."

With hatred and rage filling his veins, he swings his sword again, but the Fates are already gone. He lets out a guttural shout and falls to his knees.

* * *

Nico's been here before. He thought his days of summoning the ghosts of the past were over; he had promised Bianca, after all. But if there was ever a good reason to break a promise, it would be now. He doesn't have a soul to ransom in exchange for Will's, not that it would change anything.

He tries to force Will's spirit to come to him. Instead, a woman stands in front of him. He hasn't seen a glimpse of his mother since the last time he forcibly summoned her. Her smile reminds him so much of Bianca that his heart aches.

There was a time when the sight of her before him would bring him happiness, allowing him to get the answers to the questions of his childhood that he once desperately wanted. But it just reminds him of what has been taken from him.

"Nico, my son," she says, reaching out to cup his cheek gently. He feels the coldness of where her hand should be touching his cheek.

"_Madre_, I need to see him," he says softly. "Please."

She frowns at him. "Continuing down this path could only lead to more sorrow."

He closes his eyes as he swipes through her spirit, dismissing her, and focuses on Will.

"Open your eyes, sweetheart."

Nico's eyes fly open at the sound of Will's voice. He stares at him for several long moments. "I can't—I tried to—couldn't." He stutters through several more syllables before Will interrupts.

"I didn't even see the attack coming. All I could think about was leaving you by yourself again. I never wanted that," Will says.

He barely notices the tears on his face. He swallows thickly and starts from the beginning, explaining feeling Will passing judgment, his demands of Apollo, Hades, and the Fates, and his failure.

Will smiles at him softly when he finishes his tale. "I knew you would do something like that. But just because you are the son of Hades doesn't mean you have control over life and death."

Nico opens his mouth to argue that he should, but Will continues to speak.

"I love you for trying. I mean, I love you anyways. It's still nice to know you would face down two gods and the Fates because you love me," he says. "But it's time to let me go."

"I can't," Nico chokes out. "I don't—"

"Yes, you can. I'll be waiting for you in Elysium. We can be reborn together, and I'll search for you in that life too until I find you. I'll wait for you until the end of the world if that's how long it takes, Nico di Angelo, because I love you."

Nico doesn't stop the tears from falling as Will's spirit disappears. Once he doesn't have anymore tears to cry, he has vengeance to take. But for now, he lets his grief consume him.


End file.
